Global media is reporting on comments by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh during a trip to Iran in which he said Hamas will never recognize Israel and compared the country to a “cancer.” According to a report in the Jerusalem Post:
02/14/2012 01:30 Rounding up a three-day visit to Iran, Haniyeh reiterates refusal to recognize, compromise with Israel. By REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh continued Monday to issue fiery statements about Israel, which he compared to a cancer that is threatening to spread to other parts of the body. Rounding up a three-day visit to Iran, Haniyeh said in an interview with an Iranian TV station that Israel remained the “main enemy” of the Arab and Islamic world.Reiterating Hamas’s refusal to recognize Israel or compromise on Palestinian rights, Haniyeh praised Iran for its “unconditional support” for the Palestinians and his movement. Iran’s stance toward the Palestinian issue is a strategic one, the Hamas leader said. “Iran’s support for the resistance and the Palestinian people stems from an Islamic commitment and belief and moral and political values.” Haniyeh pointed out that Iran supported the Palestinians during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip more than three years ago. “The reality is that the Palestinians are under occupation and the Islamic Republic of Iran has faithfully heeded their appeal for help,” he said. “Iran never asked for anything in return for its support.” He also denied reports about tensions between Hamas and Iran over the situation in Syria.
AFP further reported:
(AFP) – 4 days ago TEHRAN — Hamas “will never recognise Israel,” Gaza prime minister, Ismail Haniya, said Saturday in a speech in Iran that is likely to complicate Palestinian efforts to form a unity government in the teeth of opposition from the Jewish state. “They want us to recognise the Israeli occupation and cease resistance but, as the representative of the Palestinan people and in the name of all the world’s freedom seekers, I am announcing from Azadi Square in Tehran that we will never recognise Israel,” Haniya said. “The resistance will continue until all Palestinian land, including Al-Quds (Jerusalem), has been liberated and all the refugees have returned,” he said. Haniya’s reiteration of Hamas’s long-held stance was made on the occasion of Iran’s commemoration of its 1979 Islamic revolution. The Gaza leader spoke to an estimated crowd of 30,000 from a stage alongside Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “The Iranian people are a partner in this victory,” Haniya said. “God willing, we will met you along with other Palestinians in a free Palestine, in its capital Al-Quds,” he said.”
A previous post reported on Haniyeh’s meeting with Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi in Qatar during an earlier part of his tour of Iran and the Gulf states while a series of earlier posts covered Haniyeh’s tour of Egypt, Tunisia, and other countries also discussed in a MEMRI article titled “Isma’il Haniya’s First Regional Tour Transforms Him From Hamas PM in Gaza to Regional Palestinian Leader.”
The Hamas charter states that it is ” is one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine” and an early media report indicated that shortly after Hamas took over the Gaza strip, Muslim Brotherhood representatives were present to review Hamas military formations. In 2007, a Hamas journalist acknowledged the role that the “international Muslim Brotherhood” has played in providing funds for the purchase of weapons and in 2008, an Israeli TV station reported that Muslim Brotherhood “representatives” had traveled to Gaza from Egypt through the open border to meet with Hamas. Hamas is supported financially and politically by the global Muslim Brotherhood and a NEFA Foundation report has documented the Hamas fund-raising activities of the Union of Good, a coalition of Islamic charities linked to the Brotherhood that provides financial support to both the Hamas “social” infrastructure, as well as its terrorist activities. Previous posts have also discussed the worldwide campaign orchestrated by the global Brotherhood against Israeli actions in Gaza during the 2008-2009 conflict with Israel. Anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incitement in Hamas media is commonly reported.
The notion of Israel as a “cancer” appears to be a growing theme of the Global Muslim Brotherhood.